Brighton & Hove Albion will aim to make it four victories in a row when they play away at Sunderland this Saturday. The visitors are currently third in the table, having earned 10 points from their first five matches, and are in good spirits following successes against Arsenal and Manchester United.
They will meet a Sunderland team missing several players. Brian Brobbey and Dan Ballard sustained injuries while with their national teams, and their condition remains unclear. Romaine Mundle, Mouhamadou Habib Diarra, and the banned Reinildo Mandava are also unavailable for the home side.
Brighton have injury issues too, as Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk are questionable and will be assessed closer to kickoff. They are added to a list of absent players that features Stefanos Tzimas, Kaoru Mitoma, and Evan Ferguson. With those players out, Charalampos Kostoulas and Malick Yalcouyé have both netted two goals this campaign, and Pascal Groß is the team's top scorer with three.
Sunderland have managed only four points from their initial five games and let in five goals in a recent loss to Manchester City. Brighton's performances have been far stronger, with a significant positive goal difference highlighting their progress. Brighton won the previous encounter between the teams 1-0 at Sunderland's ground in March.
The game starts at 14:00 UTC on Saturday, 10 October.
